The Surfer

Does it disturb you that you are still trying to cement your place in the Indian team?

Mr. Dravid has been given a frustrating nickname: “The Wall.” Walls are passive. Walls don’t react. Walls just stand there soaking up punishment without retaliating. Walls don’t back down, or step up. But Rahul Dravid always stepped up. He never backed down. Rahul Dravid ran and ran till perspiration flowed from his face. And Rahul Dravid reacted plenty. Usually in one of two ways. Sometimes, when he took a catch or scored a century he reacted with this odd ferocity. You can almost sense his teeth gnashing.

Bairstow's power suggests he could, in future, fill the glaring gap in England's one-day batting order, a missing link that was painfully exposed in the World Cup quarter-final mauling by Sri Lanka. England have longed for an attacking opening batsman to clear the infield during the crucial opening overs and powerplays; can Bairstow fill such a role in future?

Moores might be intent on creating a legacy for Lancashire but he can also claim to have played some part in England's remarkable rise. Asked where he contributed most during his difficult 20 months in charge of the national team he pinpoints three areas – player selection, appointing various support coaches and, most tellingly, in restructuring the national academy at Loughborough. "I took over from Rodney Marsh at the Academy [in 2005] and as soon as I got there I sensed something was wrong. It was geared towards about 18 or so 23-year-olds. What it really needed to be was a performance centre that could support everything to do with England cricket. I had a big role to play in turning that academy into a performance centre and it was hard to do.

Though Sehwag the cricketer is a touch restless to return to doing what he enjoys the most, the eternal student in him has found a new teacher, away from cricket. “These days, my four-year-old son (Aaryavir) is teaching me how to count — 1-2-3 besides making me write A-B-C-D — honestly I am enjoying my time with my family.” His second son (Vedant) is one year old and keeps him busy too.

Now that you have made it to the Indian team, what do you think you need to do in order to cement your place?

This, then, is the man who was to be one of the saviours of English cricket. How far removed all this is from the summer afternoon in 2008 when Stanford, who owned banks in Antigua and offered financial advice to the super-rich, landed at Lord's in a helicopter to formalise his deal with the ECB. How the ECB must wish it had never happened. Stanford, who had already promoted Twenty20 cricket in the West Indies with some success, had been looking for an inter-national partner for a while. England eventually fell into his arms.

It could be time to admit the game's up and let New Zealand focus on being one-day and T20 specialists like Ireland or the Netherlands. It is certainly time to consider whether plans for improving the country's test credentials need a revamp. The regular rhetoric about wanting a better test team may be impossible to action.

"I'm on track, religiously practising at the Papatoetoe indoor nets and at Cornwall," Crowe says. "The skills sessions are going great. I've been working through a few niggles with my hip flexor and hamstrings but apart from that, I'm fine. I'm not due to play until November [when two-day club cricket begins]. As tempting as it may be, I won't play 50-over cricket; that's a young man's game.

In an interview to Indian Express, he said, “You never get a chance to choose how you make your debut and you never get a chance to choose how you will finish. It’s life.” What Dravid left out is what happens, what you choose to do, between the first and the last match, that gruelling self-actualisation of greatness that takes place in the middle, on every hallowed cricket ground, in every nondescript session at the nets